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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Alert cops foil child marriage

Quick action on the part of the Santoshnagar police resulted in the rescue of a minor girl who was married off to an older man, a Sharjah national. They also arrested the parents of the girl, the groom, and the qazi who performed the marriage. Old men, mostly from Arab countries, have been coming to Hyderabad in search of young, often under-aged, brides whose parents are bribed with money to allow the marriage. Sometimes the girl is abandoned after some time, or she may be sold into prostitution in a foreign land.

In this latest case, the Santoshnagar police received information on Sunday evening that such a child marriage was being held at Moin Bagh in Riyasathnagar. They rushed to the house and rounded up the bridegroom Hilal Saeed Mohammed Al Hilal, aged 47, Qazi Mohd Waheedudin, and the parents of the bride, Awan bin Salam Barawas and Parveen Sultana. By the time police reached the house, the marriage was already solemnised by the Qazi. Since the bride looked like she was a minor, she was taken into safe custody. A medical examination showed her age to be 16.

Police investigations revealed that the girl was forced into the marriage and her signature taken under duress. The parents of the bride, knowing well that she was a minor, had forced her to marry Hilal. They did this for the sum of Rs 30,000. Hilal allegedly told the police that he has a wife and children in the UAE and he married the girl only with the intention of having sexual relations with her when in India. Cases have been booked under Sections 366-A, 417, 420, 384, 468, 471, 109 R/w 34 of the IPC and Sections 3 R/w 9 and 10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, against all the arrested — Hilal, Qazi Mohd Waheeduddin, and the girl’s parents.